Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud!

Mud, mud, glorious mud
Nothing quite like it for cooling the blood.
So follow me, follow, down to the hollow,
And there we shall wallow in gloooorious mud!

Don’t ask me how old I was when I learned this song. I know I was little and probably adorable at the time. My grandfather taught us this silly ditty, by the comedy duo of Flanders and Swann, and was to be sung with great gusto and hilarity. I found myself singing it fairly regularly on today’s run/hike in the hills of Oakland.

Mud – the word of the day for the run.

It’s been raining in California if you haven’t heard. It’s been raining for days on end. My beloved running trails are squishy, slippery and, frankly, quite the obstacle course. Today’s adventure actually required a u-turn as my route home was fully barred by a fallen tree and – yes, you guessed it – immense amounts of mud.

Now don’t get me wrong, a little mud has never thwarted me much. I was raised in the English countryside and a wet muddy walk on a Sunday was de rigeur in our house. “Come on, it will blow the cobwebs out!” was a common refrain. The fact that we’d usually return home practically frozen solid and covered in dirt from head to toe was never a problem. Imagine a Tough Mudder every weekend and you’ll get the picture.

And what does this have to do with 3D LILA? Well, nothing really, other than I thought you might want to know that my kind of exercise is the “one might get really really dirty in the process” type of exercise. I hadn’t really thought about it for myself until I had to navigate multiple obstacles today. I have never been one of those people who go to the gym and have a routine or take a class to perfect my downward dog. Exercise, for me, is not just running, it’s a romp in nature.

I think it’s important for everyone to figure out what kind of exercise makes you happy. You might even find there’s a song to help you on the way.

I’m off to shower. Because yes, I’m frozen and covered in mud.

Lila

If you want to hear the song you can find it as the chorus to The Hippopotamus Song. For more entertainment, you can also check out I’m a Gnu. #memories